Article: Wild Come Up Big, Win Over Avalanche

[Thomas Williams]

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[MNCountryLife]

Ohgren played better.  Not only did he stay structured but he was more aggressive.  I like his play better than Nojo....and he got a nice apple.  Jiricek had his best performance so far.  He had fewer D mistakes and jumped in on offense well.  Faber was up to speed and dang does he make a difference when his game is on.  This D core will only get better over the next year.

[IllicitFive]

That was a fun game, not high flying but that is not where this team thrives. Seeing Avs players getting so frustrated was wonderful to see, I believe it was Rant flopping at the end from Midds face washing him, comical. Blackwood made some outstanding saves keeping this game much closer than it could have been. Ohgie with 2 apples and a plus 3, nice bounce back game, nothing overly flashy but a good solid game, seems confidence might be growing which is big for young guys, believing they belong. Jiricek I believe is getting more confident too, defense didn't look to bad to me, until his skating improves hopefully he maintains great positioning and getting his big body in the way. That one time clapper, my lord is that heavy, I think I heard them say it clocked over 91 mph and missed just high. Him activating and dropping down into the slot, making nice moves and great passes leading to a goal as well as having one of his own robbed on a great save during the PP. Getting goals from the blue line and Trenin always nice, hopefully that continues when Kap returns to take pressure off of him to do it all himself. That was the biggest missing aspect to start the year, lack of secondary scoring. Great to see them play structured, and not over committing leading to top tier scoring chances for the Avs so they can rough somebody up a little extra. 

[Imyourhuckleberry]

2 hours ago, IllicitFive said:

Jiricek I believe is getting more confident too, defense didn't look to bad to me, until his skating improves hopefully he maintains great positioning and getting his big body in the way.

The future of Jiricek with Buium and Faber is looking really bright!

Setting up Trenin for that goal was just a phenomenal play by Jiricek, and the type of stuff Buium does as well. The PP could jump to another level with those 2 quarterbacking it and Faber isn't terrible at that either.

Lambos should be able to fill a role in a year or 2. If Yurov steps up with strong play early on, this team could be ready to overtake some of the teams that have been above them in the playoffs for a few years now.

[M_Nels]

2 hours ago, IllicitFive said:

Jiricek I believe is getting more confident too, defense didn't look to bad to me, until his skating improves hopefully he maintains great positioning and getting his big body in the way. That one time clapper, my lord is that heavy, I think I heard them say it clocked over 91 mph and missed just high. Him activating and dropping down into the slot, making nice moves and great passes leading to a goal as well as having one of his own robbed on a great save during the PP.

He has another couple games like that I wouldn't be surprised if he'll stay once Spurge comes back. I know Bogo is RHD also but I wonder if they make him the 7th or have him play off-hand with Jiri on the right. Watching the highlights of that assist is something neither Merrill or Bogo can offer even on their best days.

[Sam]

Pretty snazzy dangles by a d-man that Jiricek has. It probably made MacKinnon jealous. I have good feelings about him. 

Edited 11 hours ago by Sam

[IllicitFive]

3 minutes ago, Sam said:

Pretty snazzy dangles by a d-man that Jiricek has. It probably made MacKinnon jealous. I have good feelings about him. 

If he can do that while being defensively responsible as well, that will be a great trade. I just don't want to see that if it leaves the team in a bad position going the other way. I know a lot has to do with forwards getting back but could be very exciting as Huck pointed out, him and Zeev bringing two lines that can do that. Exciting